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A silent film for people who don't like silent films

posted 10 years ago by FilmKoala
11 replies | jump to latest

As much as I try, I generally don't like silent films. I've only seen about 5 all the way through Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu, The Unholy Three, I Was Born, But..., and The Lost World and I've abandoned a few more than that while watching them because I just couldn't do it. They just bore me to tears.

But I think Modern Times is the perfect way to ease someone into them. It has the production values and mentality of talkies produced during the same time period so it's not unfamiliar. And the sound effects added in help a TON in not getting bored. Mix that with Chaplin himself and his style of not letting dialogue overpower the film while allowing comedy and very clear pantomime acting to be the focus, and you have the perfect silent film for people who otherwise would steer clear.

I thought Modern Times was a great movie by today's standards; I never thought I would say that about any silent film.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (14789810) 10 years ago

Sounds like you just lack an appreciation for silent film, which negatively affects your attention span.

Glad you enjoyed Chaplin though.

The night is dark and full of terrors
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[–] FilmKoala 10 years ago

Well in my defense it's hard to gain an appreciation for silent film when you've tried about a baker's dozen times to watch them and most of the time it didn't work out. Though of the two silent films I have watched this week, I'm 2 for 2. So I don't know, maybe watching Modern Times was a gateway movie and it helped me gain that appreciation. Hell, maybe my film selection was just really poor up to this week.

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"Ram this in your clambake, bitchcakes!"

[–] jtf1986 10 years ago

You should try other Charlie Chaplin silent films, and Buster Keaton silent films too. You might like them even though you find other silent films boring.

[–] FilmKoala 10 years ago

I intend on watching some more of Chaplin's feature films soon, mainly City Lights and Gold Rush. Modern Times totally sold me on him so I'm sure I'll enjoy more of his work.

As for Buster Keaton, can you recommend me some good full length features? I'm not so much into shorts and I don't have a clue where to start with him.

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"Ram this in your clambake, bitchcakes!"

[–] jtf1986 10 years ago

The General is my favorite Buster Keaton film. I also recommend Sherlock Jr.

[–] wmorrow59 10 years ago

For Keaton features I would also recommend Our Hospitality and Steamboat Bill, Jr. They may not be his funniest, but both have strong stories and good production values. For sheer laughs, Seven Chances may be the funniest feature he ever made, but some of the humor is not, so to speak, politically correct. I'd also say The Cameraman is another great silent feature from BK.

Getting back to Chaplin, I would also recommend The Circus, which may be his most underrated feature. Lots of great sequences there.

[–] FilmMuscle 10 years ago

Nah, I thought this one was boring whereas I really enjoyed City Lights, Metropolis, and The Birth of a Nation.

[–] Darthmauler_megaa 10 years ago

I used to be pretty disparaging of silent films as something incomplete and inadequate. Plus I just tend to gravitate more toward verbal humor (Marx Brothers, etc.). But I've definitely been schooled in recent years. I know people still give Chaplin flack for sticking with silents in the age of talkies. But when it comes down to it, the presence of sound doesn't automatically make a movie better, anymore than the lack of it necessarily makes a movie worse. They're just two different ways of getting the same emotions across. What Chaplin did he did very well and there was nothing inadequate about it.

I feel like in The Great Dictator you can see him struggling with the outside pressure to give the Tramp a voice when he really never needed one.

"Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind."

[–] SamoanJoes 9 years ago

You should check out The General. It's really easy to get in to.

[–] Degree7 9 years ago

You should also give D.W. Griffith's Intolerance a go. It was made in 1916, but remarkably entertaining and well made.

Just make sure you don't watch the Netflix version, it contains the European cut with a crappy synthesizer score. In silent films, the music is EVERYTHING to prevent you from disassociating from the movie.

For example, this restoration cut of the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=witEnLpaxwM with the newly composed score is so much more visceral and emotional than the other cuts...

Like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo66cJqEl4A

There is no comparison.

~ I've been very lonely in my isolated tower of indecipherable speech.

[–] Ultimate_Bad-Ass 8 years ago

True that made me watched B & W movies, my favorite is 12 Angry Men.